Special Collection Editorial: Clinical Academic Careers

Abstract

Editing the Journal of Research in Nursing’s first online collection of published papers with an accompanying editorial (See: http://jrn.sagepub.com/site/virtual_special_issue/ specialcollectionsclinicalcareers2.xhtml) has presented the opportunity to reflect on the progress of clinical academic careers in nursing and midwifery over nearly 20 years and deliberate key messages. My professional interest stems from a practice-based role to forge a clinical academic career in one Health Board in Scotland. What is evident from the selected papers is that there has been a clear shift in the United Kingdom (UK) in emphasis from nursing research being the province of a comparatively small number of academic institutions to emergent models based on partnerships centred on the improvement of patient outcomes through the conduct and implementation of applied research (Gerrish, 2010; Latter et al., 2009). There is no doubt that publication of the Finch Report (UKCRC, 2007) with its recommendations for clinical academic research training and career progression has presented a watershed in this analysis. What is important to recognise is that the Dame Janet Finch’s principal driver was not clinical academic careers per se, but the ‘urgent’ need for an evidence base that would focus on prevention, selfmanagement and the management of chronic conditions in the community (Finch, 2009: 103). More recently, MacLeod Clarke (2014) reinforced this message in her call for clinical academic leadership focused on moving the discipline forward through strengthening the role of nursing interventions in improving outcomes and enhancing patient benefit. Back in 1997, while in the role of a Regional Nurse Director, Christine Beasley, the former Chief Nursing Officer for England, looked towards the new millennium as presenting an opportunity for nursing research. This was in response to the recent publication of the Culyer Report (NHS Research & Development Task Force, 1994) with its focus on the way that funds were allocated for research and development. She presented an example of a strategic approach to building nursing research capacity that in many ways mirrored the future model proposed in the Finch Report (UKCRC, 2007), along with recognition of the need for a greater focus on primary care research. Her concluding remarks continue to